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Arthur T Knackerbracket [soylentnews.org] writes:

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story [theregister.com]:

Nineteen years and a whole bunch of controversy later, Boeing has decided to reacquire Spirit AeroSystems, maker of parts including the door plug included in select Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft. 

Spirit, which manufactures plane parts like fuselages, wings, and other components for both Boeing and Airbus, is being reacquired [mediaroom.com] for $4.7 billion, with a total transaction value of $8.3 billion once Spirit's debt is added to the mix. Spirit was originally spun off from Boeing in 2005 for what Spirit spokesperson Joe Buccino confirmed was a cost-saving measure. 

"By reintegrating Spirit, we can fully align our commercial production systems, including our Safety and Quality Management Systems, and our workforce to the same priorities, incentives and outcomes – centered on safety and quality," outgoing [theregister.com] Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said of the deal.

Patrick Shanahan, former Boeing executive and current CEO at Spirit, had much the same [spiritaero.com] to say about his company being welcomed back into the Boeing fold, touting it as a way to "enable greater integration of both companies' manufacturing and engineering capabilities, including safety and quality systems."

Shanahan assumed his role at Spirit in October 2023.

Spirit shareholders will be compensated with Boeing stock at a possible rate of 0.25 Boeing shares to each Spirit share, or as little as 0.18 Boeing shares per Spirit share owned, depending on the stock price when the deal closes. 

Spirit also plans to divest from a business and operations center in Malaysia, and facilities in Ireland and Scotland that do work for Airbus. We're told that Spirit doesn't anticipate any job losses as a result of those divestitures. 

Boeing has been having quality control issues for several years, some of which have been allegedly linked to issues at Spirit [npr.org].

Spirit was also hit by the 2018 and 2019 fatal crashes [theregister.com] of a pair of Boeing 737 Max aircraft. The company was manufacturing the aircraft at the time and was heavily affected by the nearly two-year grounding of the aircraft after the crashes, which have largely been blamed on faulty software [theregister.com].

The DoJ is reportedly seeking a guilty plea from Boeing on criminal charges related to those two Max crashes that killed 346 people and, if it doesn't get it, intends to take the company to trial.

Reuters reported news of the DoJ/Boeing dealings today [reuters.com] – just hours after Boeing announced its reacquisition of Spirit. The Register has been unable to confirm the matter, with Spirit only telling us it had no comment, and that the DoJ's potential prosecution of its parent firm had nothing to do with the merger.

Reuters' sources claim that the DoJ wants Boeing to take a plea deal that will impose a fine and force the company to bring in an independent monitor to assess safety and compliance practices at Boeing for three years.

That plea – or a conviction in court – could have serious implications for Boeing's future. Several agencies the company does business with, including the DoD and NASA, have rules in place barring [federalregister.gov] them from signing contracts with companies convicted of a felony.

A number of whistleblowers – employees at both Boeing and Spirit – have come forward in the years since the crashes, and the rate of damning reports only increased after the door plug blowout.

Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour said [theregister.com] in April that Boeing 787 aircraft contained hairline gaps in the fuselage that could cause a structural failure, and former Boeing manager Merle Meyers came forward later that month to report years of declining quality as company leaders shifted their priorities from quality to speed and profitability.

Another Boeing whistleblower was found dead [bbc.com] in March, and in May a former quality manager at Spirit came forward to allege quality issues in nearly every job the company did.

"It was very rare for us to look at a job and not find any defects," Santiago Paredes recently told [cbsnews.com] CBS. "If quality mattered, I would still be at Spirit."

Spirit has also entered into a definitive agreement with Airbus to hand related segments off to that company, for which Airbus will be paid [airbus.com] $559 million. 

Boeing didn't respond to questions for this story. ®

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